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2019 Cubs MLB First-Year Player Draft (Rule 4 Draft) Negotiation List

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 5:30am

UPDATED 7/13:

Players selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft (MLB Rule 4 Draft) are placed on a club's Negotiation List.

In most cases, a player selected by a club in the Rule 4 Draft will remain on the club's Negotiation List until either the player signs or until the signing deadline (whichever comes first), and if a club does not sign a Rule 4 Draft pick by the deadline (5 PM Eastern on the Friday that falls during the week July 6-12), the player is removed from the club's Negotiation List and becomes eligible for selection again in the next Rule 4 Draft in which the player would be eligible for selection.EXCEPTION: A college senior with no baseball eligibility left remains on the club's Negotiation List until the player signs or until one week prior to the next Rule 4 Draft (whichever comes first).NOTE: The Cubs signed all of their 2019 draft picks who were college seniors with no eligibility left.

A player selected in the Rule 4 Draft will be declared a free-agent if he is not offered a contract by the signing deadline.

A player eligible for selection in the Rule 4 Draft who is not drafted ("Non-Drafted Free-Agent" or "NDFA") can sign with any club after the conclusion of the draft any time up until one week prior to the next Rule 4 Draft, unless and until the NDFA enrolls in a junior college or four-year college, in which case MLB Rule 4 Draft eligibility rules apply.

A player selected in the MLB Rule 4 Draft or a Rule 4 eligible NDFA cannot be signed to a Major League contract.

A player selected in the MLB Rule 4 Draft or a Rule 4 eligible NDFA can be "Signed for Future Service" (contract is for the following season) if the player signs a contract during the period of time extending from July 2nd through December 31st.

Prior to the Rule 4 Draft, each MLB club is assigned a “Signing Bonus Pool” (SBP) equal to the aggregate pre-assigned bonus value of all of the club’s draft slots in the first ten rounds (including supplemental & compensatory draft picks). The higher the slot, the higher the bonus value. (The collective MLB SBP is determined in advance by calculating industry revenues).

The Cubs 2019 Rule 4 Draft SBP is $5,826,900 (or $6,118,245 before penalties would be assessed).

If a club fails to sign a player selected in the first ten rounds (including supplemental draft picks), the value of that slot is deducted from the club’s SBP. There is no bonus value assigned to draft slots after the 10th round, but if a club pays a signing bonus in excess of $125,000 to a player selected in the 11th round or later or to a player eligible for selection who was not drafted, the amount of that bonus in excess of $125,000 is deducted from the club’s SBP.

If a club exceeds its SBP in a given Rule 4 Draft, a tax will be assessed and future Rule 4 Draft picks could be forfeited, depending on how much the club exceeded its SBP. (The club’s 1st Round draft pick in the next Rule 4 Draft is forfeited if the club exceeds its SBP by 5-10%, its 1st & 2nd round draft picks in the next Rule 4 Draft are forfeited if the club exceeds its SBP by 10-15%, and the club’s 1st Round picks in the next two Rule 4 Drafts are forfeited if the club exceeds its SBP by more than 15%).

The Cubs signed 30 of their 40 2019 draft picks prior to the deadline on July 12 at 5 PM (Eastern). They also signed two NDFA prior to the deadline.

However, McAvene (Louisville's closer) was suspended for four games last weekend after he was ejected by the home plate umpire for arguing a ball-strike call, and Laskey has missed most of the 2019 season with an injury, so only Strumpf and Washer are likely to play.

With the signing bonuses reported so far, the Cubs saved $570K from the underslot Jensen bonus, $144,400 from the underslot Deppermann bonus, and they have an additional $291,300 (5% above their assigned Signing Bonus Pool) available to spend, for a total of $1,050,700 available for overslot bonuses.

This $1,050,700 has already been offset somewhat by the $500K Herz signing bonus ($337,300 overslot), leaving $713,400 in the draft bonus bank (SBP) to use to pay over-slot bonuses presumably needed to sign Ethan Hearn (probably will require about $750K over-slot) and Tyler Schlaffer (probably will require about $100K over-slot).

So the Cubs will probably need to gain about an additional aggregate $140K (or so) in under-slot bonuses from bonuses paid to Burgmann, Strempf, McAvene, and/or Hendrie (of the four only Burgmann has been officially signed, but his bonus has not yet been reported) to stay within the SBP limit ($6,118,245), and that's presuming there are no overslot bonuses paid to players selected after the top ten rounds.

So with Josh Burgmann signing for $225K ($93,200 underslot), the Cubs will need only about another $50,000 (or so) in underslot bonuses (combined) from Strumpf, McAvene, and/or Hendrie to come in under the SBP limit (again, that's presuming none of the picks below round #10 get more than $125K).

In fact, if Strumpf signs for exactly $1M ($50,000 underslot), that would probably do the trick.

With the Darius Hill signing, there are now only two college seniors drafted by the Cubs in 2019 who remain unsigned (C Jake Washer and RHP Shane Combs). College seniors are usually the easiest draft picks to sign because they have very little leverage.

C HunterTaylor (Cubs 2018 23rd round pick - U. of South Carolina) was the only college senior drafted by the Cubs who did not sign from last year's draft.

Cubs 3rd round draft pick RHRP Michael McAvene threw two innings (7th & 8th innings) for Louisville in today's elimination game vs Auburn, protecting a three-run lead. (Louisville won the game and will advance to play the loser of Vanderbilt-Mississippi State tomorrow).

McAvene looked rusty, probably because he hadn't pitched for more than two weeks after being suspended for four games after arguing a ball-strike call with the home plate umpire in a Regional game vs UIC.

His FB sat 96-97 in his first inning of work before going down to 94-95 (T-96) at the end of his second inning when he got the third out by strike out (swinging) with the bases loaded on a 3-2 96 MPH FB. He also displayed a knee-buckling 80-82 MPH SL/CV (slurve), and he threw a couple of mediocre "show me" CH that he can junk when he turns pro.

HAGSAG: I suspect the Cubs have already verbally agreed to a $1M bonus for Hearn (about $750K over-slot) and $250K for Schleffler (about $100K over-slot), but they won't sign them until they sign Wyatt Hendrie, and Hendrie won't sign until the Cubs find-out if Michael McAvene will sign for under-slot, because Hendrie probably will get whatever is left-over after the Cubs sign McAvene, Hearn, and Schleffler.

In other words, Hendrie gets whatever is left even if it means signing for under-slot, but he'll get over-slot if the SBP space is available, and that is unclear right now. I don't think the Cubs would have selected Hendrie in the 10th round if he wasn't willing to be flexible with his signing bonus and gamble that he might actually get over-slot if things fall just right. Otherwise, the Cubs would have used the 10th round pick on a sure-thing college senior (like Deppermann) willing to sign for an under-slot bonus.

Also, if the Cubs don't sign McAvene, it shouldn't really affect the Cubs ability to sign Hearn and Schleffler as long as Hendrie is willing to sign for under-slot. If McAvene does not sign there is no over-slot or under-slot from the 3rd round pick (the slot just disappears), but the Cubs would get a compensation pick in the 2020 draft (after the conclusion of the 3rd round) if they don't sign McAvene.

So it cost $500,000 to sign Bigge, Reynolds, Laskey, and Collier (obviously the Cubs considered these four to have the most leverage/value, with Bigge, Reynolds, and Laskey college juniors and Collier a three-sport high school player), and only $31,000 to sign the other nine (all nine were college seniors, the draft picks with the least leverage).

Z. Bryant and Oquendo both get $125K signing bonus and Combs gets $50,000 ($125K is max bonus allowed without SBP hit for players selected below round #10), and so Combs and Deppermann were the only two Cubs college senior draft picks (so far) to get more than $5,000 (both got $50,000).

So catcher Jake Washer (31st round pick out of East Carolina) is the only Cubs 2019 college senior draft pick who is still unsigned. My guess is that the Cubs see Washer as just another $5,000 senior draft pick (like Byrd, Dalton, Hill, Ueckert, and Maldonado), while he sees himself as a $50,000 guy (like Combs and Deppermann). If so, maybe the Cubs and Team Washer can find a middle-ground number satisfactory to both sides...

also, he's been banged up for years. he was a rather decent highschool pitcher.

maybe he sold the team on his life goals if baseball doesn't work out and they "bought" into it...maybe he told them he's gonna go play indie ball and see if he can get more than 5K out of it next go around...maybe he's a conduit to funnel most of the money to a mercenary tribe operating in the jungles of South America in exchange for getting a nice roommate assignment in AZ...

The Cubs have officially signed C Jake Washer (29th round draft pick - East Carolina). So the Cubs have now signed 27 of their 40 draft picks (including all of their college senior draft picks), with two weeks left until the signing deadline (5 PM Eastern on 7/12).

But I have to remind myself that McLeod picked Rizzo in the sixth round, and that Schwarber is an emerging slugger. That's two lefty power bats, versus Tyler Colvin. We also remember that pure bust, Vitters, a #3 pick by Wilken.

AZ Phil, have you had a chance to see Brandon Hughes (recently converted from OF to LHRP) pitch? Has struck out 10 over his first 6.0 IP with just 3 BBs and 1 ER, appears to be finishing games and got the save Saturday (Looks like all but one of his AZL appearances have been on the road).

BRADSBEARD: When I saw Hughes in EXST he had an upper 80's cutter and a slow CV (both solid pitches) with OK command. Galazin (the other 2019 OF-to-pitcher conversion) throws a 90-92 T-93-94 FB but he's raw (secondaries need work and he doesn't throw strikes consistently). BTW, both Hughes and Galazin pitched a bit in college (Hughes at Michigan State and Galazin at St. John's), so pitching is not totally new to either of them. Galazin would seem to have the highest ceiling of the two but Hughes has the highest floor. I wouldn't be surprised if Hughes moves quickly up the pipeline, but Galazin may struggle to get to full-season ball.

GEORGE A: That's correct. So if the signing bonuses rumored for Schlaffer (about $100K over-slot) and Hearn (about $750K over-slot) are true, then Hendrie has to sign (so that the Cubs can use his slot) - AND - he has to sign for about $25,000 under-slot.

GEORGE A: I doubt that the Cubs would have taken Wyatt Hendrie with their 10th round pick (where he might need to take an under-slot bonus to help the Cubs sign another player taken in the first ten rounds) if they didn't know he was willing to sign for an under-slot bonus. Otherwise the Cubs could have just selected a college senior (like Zac Taylor, Grayson Byrd, Jacob Olson, et al) with their 10th pick, paid him a $5,000 bonus, and use the rest of the $142,200 SBP slot for other Top 10 round picks. I think what probably will happen is Hendrie will sign for whatever is available for him to get, whether it be slot, over-slot, or under-slot.

This coming Friday (7/12) at 5 PM Eastern is the deadline to sign players selected in last month's First-Year Player Draft.

College seniors with no eligibility left are not affected by the deadline (they remain on the drafting club's Negotiation List until they sign or until one week prior to next year's draft, whichever comes first), but the Cubs signed all of their 2019 college senior draft picks.

In addition, any player eligible to be selected in the First-Year Player Draft who was not selected (Non-Drafted Free-Agent - NDFA) and who is not a college senior with no eligibility left can be signed anytime up until one week prior to next year's draft or until the player enrolls in college (whichever comes first).

As is the case for college seniors with no eligibility left who were selected in the draft, a college senior NDFA can be signed any time up until one week prior to next year's draft.

It's sometimes difficult for Latin American players to play at Eugene (at least the first season the player is there) because the NWL has a lot of polished college seniors (which is what it's designed for), so sometimes it's easier for a Latin American player to go directly from AZL to South Bend (via EXST) than AZL to Eugene to South Bend.

The Houston Astros have the fewest number of scouts (less than 20) in MLB and they eliminated two of their minor league affilates (DSL Astros #2 and SS-R Greeneville) after the 2017 season just as the Cubs were hiring more scouts (the Cubs now have 67) and were adding two affiliates (DSL Cubs #2 and AZL Cubs #2).

AZ PHIL: From your perspective, what does that difference between the Cubs & HOU mean? If anything... is CHC missing the boat? Does HOU have resource limitations that prompted the reallocation? (I wouldn't imagine so) Are you aware of public or of-the-record statements about CHC philosphy in expanding low level affiliates?

FirstPitch.120. The Cubs have the same advanced 21st century cutting-edge baseball technologies the Astros have. The difference is the Cubs still value in-person scouting. There is stuff you can learn about a player only by being there and observing pre-game BP, infield practice, etc, and interactions between players and interactions between players and the coaching and training staff.

The Astros weren't the only team to eliminate one of their DSL teams. The New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays also cut back from two DSL teams to one in the last couple of years. And the Astros eliminating their Greeneville (Appalachian League) affiliate would be like the Cubs eliminating their second AZL team. I guess it comes down to whether having extra teams in the DSL and rookie ball translate to developing more MLB-ready players. It's possible that the Cubs might decide at some point that having two DSL teams is just not productive.

I can remember a Cubs front-office person telling me more than ten years ago that the main reason they wanted a second Latin rookie team was in case they had two Latin hot-shot prospects who played the same position (like SS, C, CF) and they wanted both of them to get regular playing time at their "natural" position but neither was ready for the AZL. Another reason that came into play in the last few years was the Cubs being in the "penalty box" as far as signing J-2 international free-agents, and so casting a very wide-net and giving try-outs and signing dozens of free-agents for $10,000 and then letting them develop at the Cubs Dominican Academy and in the DSL might justify having two DSL teams, even though it has produced a fairly low return on the investment.

I do know that one of the reasons (in fact the main reason) the Cubs established a second team in the AZL is because they wanted two teams available instead of just one for rehabbing players, A player on a minor league injured list cannot go on a roster-exempt rehab assignment with another full-season club. Prior to mid-June players on minor league injured lists can only rehab (and play in games) at Extended Spring Training, and then after the short-season leagues begin play in mid-June, players on the injured lists of the four full-season affiliates can only rehab (play in games as roster-exempt players) with short-season affiliates excluding DSL teams (which for the Cubs would be Eugene, AZL Cubs #1, and AZL Cubs #2), with a maximum of three minor leaguers rehabbing with each short-season affiliate at any one time.

By adding the second AZL team the Cubs can have as many as nine players who are on minor league injured lists on roster-exempt rehab assignments (playing in games) at the same time, including six (combined) between the two AZL teams. Also having two AZL teams makes it easier for the Cubs to initially start all of their draft picks in Mesa before moving some of them up to Eugene while others remain in Mesa based in part on how they perform in AZL games (which is part of the Cubs Way).

One thing the Cubs probably do better than any other MLB organization is rehab & conditioning. The Cubs have a state-of-the-art rehab & conditioning facility in Mesa, and that's why they can attract free-agents (mainly pitchers, like Smyly, Graveman, and Hultzen) who are rehabbing from serious injuries. And having two AZL teams available for the rehabbers is part of that process.

Cubs = Astros on technology, agreed. The problem is off-field management. The main qualification of the Cubs' director of talent acquisition and development is that he's a crony of Theo's. The main qualification of their minor league pitching coordinator is that he's been around. Looking at the Boston Red Sox today, you can see that the reason for their success this century is the dedication of their ownership and willingness to spend a lot of money. They won with Theo. They have won just as much without him. The Cubs have an unbalanced farm system which is the result of many years of pitcher-heavy drafting and extra low-level teams funneling too many bodies into the standard number of full-season teams. This is not working, as player development results and third-party ratings farm system attest. It's a problem of human mismanagement, not technology.

The deadline for the Cubs to sign their ten remaining unsigned draft picks from last month's MLB First-Year Player Draft is tomorrow (Friday) at 5 PM Eastern.

The eight players selected after pick #32 probably won't sign (and that was the case the day they were drafted), but 10th round pick C Wyatt Hendrie and 11th round pick SS Mack Chambers III (both JC freshmen) are still very much in play.

The Cubs have about $25,000 left-over in their SBP that can be used to pay over-slot bonuses to Hendrie and/or Chambers.

The @Cubs may not have signed their 10th-rder but did land a nice arm in Georgia Southern RHP Joe Nahas. He came on late & looked VG in the @Official_CCBL, running his fastball up to 95 mph & backing it up with a solid slider. His $135k bonus is the most for a NDFA this year.

Joe Nahas has indeed been one of the top strikeout pitchers in the Cape Cod League this summer (5th in K and 13.5 K/9). Obviously he required a substantial (for a NDFA) signing bonus to forgo his senior season at Georgia Southern.

He didn't show much at GSU in 2019 and so it's not too surprising that he didn't get drafted last month, but he has made up for it with his strong showing in the CCBL.

This is kind of like the old "Draft & Follow" process clubs used to do with JC guys back when there was no signing deadline until just before the next draft. But despite the new July deadline, scouting doesn't stop with the draft.

CUBSCENTRAL08: Any part of a signing bonus over $125K paid to a player selected after the 10th round or to any NDFA (player was eligible for selection in the draft but didn't get drafted) counts against the club's SBP limit.

So Nahas got $10,000 over $125K, but the Cubs had about $25,000 available in the their "over-slot bank."

Therefore, the Cubs could conceivably sign an additional NDFA or two for a bit more than $125K if the opportunity presents itself, except the only players the Cubs can sign after yesterday's deadline are college seniors with no eligibility left or high school seniors who have not yet enrolled in college. (Nahas was a college junior).

An example of this was back in 2012, when the Cubs signed Team Canada 3B Jesse Hodges in September after he was named MVP in the 18U World Cup in South Korea but before he officially enrolled in Grayson College (with whom he had signed a National Letter of Intent).

Recent comments

A's have decided to not be horrible and to pay their minor leaguers through the end of the season (august)

"“I changed my mind after spending a lot of time talking to our team,” A's owner John Fisher told the Chronicle. “I concluded I’d made a mistake. I’ve listened to our fans and others, and there is no question that this is the right thing to do. We clearly got this decision wrong. These players represent our future and we will immediately begin paying our minor-league players. I take responsibility and I’m making it right.""

I'm in. What more do we need, really. A beer. A game or two. The 162 game season can wait until next year (I hope). Have fun with a micro-mini season. Let the powers fight over the labor agreements. They can finish by next spring, right?

IN BRIEF (Tribune, from their mini-sports section): In a letter, MLB rejects players’ plan for 114 gamesNews servicesMajor League Baseball rejected the players’ proposal for a 114-game schedule in the pandemic-delayed season with no additional salary cuts, telling the union that teams have no reason to think 82 games is possible and now will discuss even fewer.Players made their proposal Sunday, five days after management’s initial economic plan.

I agree. Laura is the real deal. I think she was the major influence that showed Tom R. and Crane Kenney how to show a "human side" and deal realistically and in a non-threatening way, with the local Chicago politicians. Kenney was clearly clueless in his initial attempts regarding the neighborhood, the Rooftop owners, and the Wrigley Field rebuild.